Ferrari not surprised Kimi needed time
Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer Chris Dyer believes it was only natural that the Finn took time to hit form for Ferrari.
Although Raikkonen won on his debut for the team in Australia, he
then endured a long fallow period prior to his Magny-Cours victory –
being outpaced by team-mate Felipe Massa and drifting back into a
distant fourth in the standings.
The Finn came under increasing pressure in the media, especially as he had replaced Michael Schumacher at Ferrari.
There was speculation that the team was unhappy with his performance
and even rumours that Ferrari wanted to replace him with Williams’ Nico
Rosberg next season.
But Dyer said there had been no such dramas within the team, and
that Ferrari had always expected Raikkonen to need time to acclimatise.
"To be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had any problems with Kimi
fitting into the team and the way we’ve worked with Kimi or the way
Kimi’s worked with us," he said.
"It’s not something we had a problem with and we had to improve.
"It takes time to understand him as a driver, for him to understand our car and the way our systems work.
"I just think it’s part of the natural process of a driver coming to
a team and settling into that team, and the team settling into the
driver.
"It’s just a constant process of trying to understand him better,
trying to understand the car better and get the most out of both of
them.
"I don’t think we’ve made any huge steps in any single area, it’s
just a little bit of improvement in all areas and we see the results."
Dyer added that the press focus on Raikkonen’s run of poor results made his Magny-Cours turnaround even more satisfying.
"There’s been a lot of pressure especially on Kimi, I think, about
the fact that we weren’t winning, so yeah, it’s more satisfying to win
here than it was in Melbourne and I hope we can continue with a few
more before the end of the year," he said.
Italy hails Kimi, Spain thanks Ferrari
The notorious Italian press heralded the apparent return to form of
Kimi Raikkonen and his Ferrari team after the French grand prix on
Sunday.
Corriere dello Sport said the famous outfit from Maranello "awoke from
its slumber" at Magny Cours following three recent defeats.
And Finland’s Raikkonen "drove like Schumi.
After Ferrari’s one-two
victory the world championship is open again".
"Kimi’s slump has come to an end. Now the Finn has a real chance for
the title."
Tuttosport agreed: "Raikkonen is back, and with the double (one two)
victory a crisis is over."
La Gazzetta dello Sport added: "Raikkonen did not have a simple task to
take Schumacher’s place. But in Magny Cours he proved again that he
also has the talent of the German."
La Repubblica also focused on 27-year-old Raikkonen, after he struggled
in recent races to match the pace of his previously less-rated teammate
Felipe Massa.
"The difficult phase for him is over," the newspaper observed. "He
struck a large blow at his critics and can now go on to prove that he
is a worthy successor for Schumi".
Spain’s Diario As turned to Fernando Alonso’s continuing problems,
remarking that the reigning world champion "tried everything" to rise
above his seventh place.
But at least "Ferrari’s success reduced the damage with regards to
(Lewis) Hamilton," the newspaper wrote.
"Alonso continues to lose ground in the championship while Ferrari
dominated the race from A to Z", ‘Sport’ added, while Marca agreed:
"Thanks, Ferrari! Your double victory prevented Hamilton from extending
his lead too much more".
Massa says Kimi was lucky in France
Massa was frustrated after the race and hit out at the backmarkers who he reckoned had cost him the win.
He remains convinced that he was the faster Ferrari driver in France and that Raikkonen simply had luck on his side.
"Everything worked perfectly that afternoon, except that at the key
moment in the race I was not very lucky and last Sunday Kimi had all
the lucky points in his hands," said Massa in his official blog.
"That’s the way it goes sometimes.
"In qualifying he gained an extra lap being the first man out, then
at the start of the race he was lucky to pass (Lewis) Hamilton and then
he was lucky I got stuck in traffic.
"That is why I could not win the race, but apart from that I was
quickest all weekend, taking pole position and the fastest lap in the
race."
Take a look at this lap time comparison chart, between Kimi and Felipe. Kimi was considerably faster than Massa before and after both pitstops. Looking at the chart, Massa was not hugely disadvantaged by traffic anymore than others would be. He simply wasn’t fast enough at the times he needed to be and didn’t bother with the backmarkers.
Post-race Ferrari team Q & A
Ferrari press conference at Magny Cours with Stefano Domenicali
(sporting director), Chris Dyer (Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer) and
Rob Smedley (Felipe Massa’s race engineer).
Q. Chris, externally, it does look like Kimi, in the last stint
at Indianapolis and for this weekend seems to have dialled himself into
the car more, the car seems to be a lot more responsive around him.
Have you noticed a change in the changes you made at Silverstone; do
you think he’s got used to the car now?
CD: I think, looking back to Indianapolis, we were strong
through the whole race. We didn’t have the best of starts and that
really compromised the rest of the race for us. Here we’ve been
reasonably comfortable all weekend. I think Kimi’s been reasonably
comfortable with the car.
I think it’s just a constant process of trying to understand him
better, trying to understand the car better and get the most out of
both of them. I don’t think we’ve made any huge steps in any single
area, it’s just a little bit of improvement in all areas and we see the
results.
Q. Chris, is it possible to say around what kind of area did you
have to work with Kimi to reach this level of fitting with the car?
CD: As I said, there’s not one particular area that we were
struggling with. We’ve had to work a little bit at just improving
generally the balance of the car. We’ve had to work a little bit in
getting the first lap performance out of the tyres. That’s helped us as
well. We’ve had to work a little bit on the starts which we haven’t
been so strong at for a few races. It is just very small improvements
in a lot of areas and you see a big improvement in performance.
Q. Felipe was dominating the race up to the second pitstop. How
frustrating was it for him and also for you to lose the race where you
didn’t make mistakes, but because of traffic. Is it more frustrating
than losing a race because you’re being overtaken?
RS: Quite simply, yeah. We were in a very good position, I
think we had a reasonable strategy. He was very quick in qualifying
yesterday, even if you look at it now without the fuel. We were still
very quick. I think we gave him a good car. The guys have worked on the
car very very well this weekend and given him a quite fantastic car,
and I think if you listen to his comments after the race he was very
happy.
So to lose the race whilst leading it because everything doesn’t go
your way is a little bit frustrating. On the other hand, you have to
accept that, you have to accept that it is a team sport and today
things went Kimi’s way and he won the race. At the end of the day, we
got 18 points for the team and I think that’s what we’re all working
towards.
But yeah, as far as we’re concerned, with Felipe, it’s slightly
disappointing, slightly disappointing on one side, and on the other, we
still closed the gap in the world championship to the two McLarens, so
less so on the other.
Q. Chris, is there a distance between the first victory in
Melbourne and this one. And the relationship between you is different?
And also, Kimi has a different approach or not?
CD: We’ve had to work a lot harder for this one. We had a
pretty comfortable weekend in Melbourne, it was the first race of the
year. There wasn’t a lot of pressure on us and then I think since then,
we obviously haven’t won any races, there’s been a lot of pressure
especially on Kimi, I think, about the fact that we weren’t winning, so
yeah, it’s more satisfying to win here than it was in Melbourne and I
hope we can continue with a few more before the end of the year.
Q. Paolo Ianieri. Chris, perhaps you didn’t answer about your
relationship with Kimi, the way you’re working. Has it improved in
these months, are we now beginning to see the real Kimi, does he fit in
the team and it’s way of working?
CD: To be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had any problems
with Kimi fitting into the team and the way we’ve worked with Kimi, the
way Kimi’s worked with us. It’s not something we had a problem with and
we had to improve. It’s takes time to understand him as a driver, for
him to understand our car and the way our systems work.
I don’t see that we had a problem, as such, that we fit. I just
think it’s part of the natural process of a driver coming to a team and
settling into that team, and the team settling into the driver.
FUCK ISRAEL 